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During the weeks ahead, I will be watching Israel and Iran like a hawk.  Prior to the 12 day war between Israel and Iran earlier this year, it was clear that something was up.  Now we are witnessing similar signs, and many experts are concerned that the very fragile ceasefire that was agreed to at the end of the 12 day war could soon collapse.  Iran is rebuilding their nuclear sites and is telling western countries that there will be no more negotiations.  On the other side, the U.S. and Israel have both pledged that Iran will not be allowed to rebuild their nuclear program.  In fact, on Sunday President Trump publicly threatened to bomb Iran again…

“They were going to have a nuclear weapon within a month,” Trump said. “And now they can start the operation all over again, but I hope they don’t because we’ll have to take care of that too if they do, I let them know that. You want to do that, it’s fine, but we’re going to take care of that and we’re not going to wait so long.”

Of course President Trump knows very well that Iranian officials have repeatedly stated that they will never give up their nuclear program, and satellite images prove that Iran has been conducting construction work at two very important enrichment facilities…

Three months after US and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, new satellite images show signs of construction work at two of its key enrichment facilities.

An analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery captured by Maxar Technologies on 18 September reveals work on a new perimeter and tunnel south of the Natanz enrichment complex.

Multiple construction vehicles are visible in an area south of the complex while digging work appears to be underway. Images also show work to extend a perimeter around that same area.

The Iranians responded to Trump’s threat of more bombing on Monday.

They called the U.S. “a law-breaking country”, and they made it clear that there will be no negotiations…

Iran’s foreign ministry on Monday branded the United States a “law-breaking” country, rejecting any prospect of talks with Washington after US President Donald Trump warned he would again bomb Iran if it resumes nuclear activities.

Trump’s public remarks amounted to an admission of “a criminal and illegal act” that only reinforced America’s image as a violator of international law, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said during his weekly briefing.

“It will be clear to the international community and to the Iranian nation that the United States is a law-breaking country,” Baghaei added. “We have no plan for negotiations.”

The Iranians have clearly made their choice.

So how long will Trump wait before he pulls the trigger again?

We were surprised by Trump’s timing during the 12 day war, and we may be surprised the next time it happens too.

If we bomb Iran, one of the first places that Iran will hit will be our base in Qatar.

Interestingly, President Trump recently signed an order that makes any attack on Qatar a “threat to the peace and security of the United States”…

President Donald Trump signed an order Monday offering a U.S. guarantee for Qatar’s security — a significant commitment for the rising non-NATO Arab ally.

“The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States,” the order, made public Wednesday, read in no uncertain terms.

“In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability.”

Recently, the U.S. military sent a whole bunch of air tankers to our base in Qatar, and that created quite a stir.

Because the last time we witnessed a deployment of air tankers of this magnitude, Iran got bombed…

Behnam Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, tells the Daily Mail, while ‘correlation is not causation’, he can’t help but think of the last time there was a mass tanker deployment by the United States.

‘Soon after that something went boom in the Middle East. Critically, in Operation Midnight Hammer, the Trump administration executed a decoy or deception effort to mask the flight of the B-2 bombers to Iran,’ Taleblu said, emphasizing that he is the only US president in two decades to deploy over military force against Iranian nuclear facilities.

‘Big military movements on his watch are something to keep an eye on,’ Taleblu added.

Of course it is also possible that those tankers may have been deployed to assist Israel in new strikes against Iran.

As I discussed in a previous article, Iranian forces have already been put on high alert because Iranian leaders are extremely concerned that new attacks could happen at any moment.

And the Institute for the Study of War has come to the conclusion that those running Iran “believe that the ceasefire with Israel will collapse”…

Officials in Iran believe that the ceasefire with Israel will collapse and that conflict will resume in the future, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The assessment by the Washington, DC think tank outlined how Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SCNC) had directed military and civilian officials to designate successors in the event of leadership disruption to ensure continuation in the event of war.

If at some point the Iranians are convinced that an Israeli strike is imminent, could they actually choose to strike first in order to get the upper hand?

Israeli politician Avigdor Liberman is convinced that this is the case, and he is urging Israeli citizens to “be careful and close to protected spaces” during Sukkot…

He urged Israelis to celebrate cautiously on the coming Sukkot, which starts Monday night and lasts for seven days: “Spend time with family and friends, but be careful and close to protected spaces.”

This year, the first day of Sukkot runs from the evening of October 6th to the evening of October 7th.

Needless to say, October 7th is a very significant date for Israel.

Two years ago, the war in the Middle East started when Hamas terrorists came pouring across the border.

It looks like the conflict in Gaza may be wrapping up, but things with Iran are a long way from being resolved.

Before Israeli leaders sign a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement, they want the threat that Iran poses to be completely neutralized.

So I think that we will soon see major events occur in the Middle East, and when that happens the entire globe will be shocked.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Chaos has erupted on the streets of America.  We used to talk about civil unrest and political violence as threats that would be coming in the future, but now they have become reality.  And of course the domestic terror crisis that we are now dealing with is just one element of “the perfect storm” that we are now facing.  As economic conditions continue to deteriorate and as global events continue to go haywire, domestic terrorism will get even worse.  The groups that are committing acts of domestic terror are very highly organized, and they are recruiting more crazed lunatics with each passing day.

On Sunday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem dropped a bombshell.

She told Fox News that bounties are being put on the heads of federal law enforcement agents…

During a Sunday interview appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said some federal agents have been targeted amid increasing immigration enforcement throughout the country by having bounties placed on them by “gangs, cartel members and known terrorist organizations.”

How would you feel if a bounty was placed on your head?

According to Noem, there are “specific officers and agents” that have been targeted.  The reward for a successful kidnapping is $2,000, and the reward for a successful assassination is $10,000…

“We have specific officers and agents that have bounties that have been put out on their heads. It’s been $2,000 to kidnap them, $10,000 to kill them,” the DHS secretary said. “They’ve released their pictures. They’ve sent them between their networks, and it’s an extremely dangerous situation and unprecedented.”

This is what happens when you allow years of unchecked illegal immigration.

The gangs now outnumber the police in Chicago by more than 10 to 1, and the largest gangs in the Windy City are immensely powerful.

But the Trump administration does not plan to back down.

In fact, Noem is absolutely convinced that the domestic terrorists will be defeated.

The months ahead are going to be crazy, because the violence is getting out of control.

On Saturday, a woman was shot by federal agents after her vehicle was involved in an assault on CBP agents…

Amid escalating tensions in Chicago over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents on Saturday shot and wounded a woman they alleged was part of a convoy of protesters that rammed their vehicles during an “ambush.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Border Patrol agents opened fire on the woman in self-defense, alleging she was armed with a semiautomatic weapon and was driving one of three vehicles that “cornered” and rammed the CBP agents’ vehicles.

It is being reported that a caravan of 10 vehicles was following federal agents through the streets of Chicago, and at one point things got violent once the agents were cornered…

Amid ongoing immigration enforcement, Noem described a violent incident in Chicago on Saturday that ended with agents shooting a civilian, saying that a caravan of 10 vehicles followed and cornered federal agents on duty.

“They had followed them [the agents] and gotten them cornered, pinned them down, and then our agents, when getting out of their cars, they tried to run them over, and had semi-automatic handguns on them to where our agents had to protect themselves, and shots were fired, and an individual ended up in the hospital that was attacking these officers,” Noem said, adding it was a “very dangerous situation.”

What these leftists are doing is insane.

Chasing federal agents through the streets while carrying guns can get you killed.

Marimar Martinez is very fortunate that she was just wounded.

It could have been far worse.

The following is how this very alarming confrontation is being described on the official DHS website…

This morning, Border Patrol law enforcement officers were ambushed by domestic terrorists that rammed federal agents with their vehicles. The woman, Marimar Martinez, driving one of the vehicles, was armed with a semi-automatic weapon and has a history of doxxing federal agents. She took defensive fire from CBP agents and has been discharged from the hospital and is currently in the custody of the FBI. The driver of another vehicle, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, involved in the ramming has been apprehended by law enforcement.

The scene became increasingly violent as more domestic terrorists gathered and began throwing smoke, gas, rocks, and bottles at DHS law enforcement. Another domestic terrorist was arrested for assaulting CBP at the scene. Following JB Prtizker’s refusal to allow local police to help secure the scene, Secretary Noem has deployed special operations teams to restore law and order.

As our ICE law enforcement was responding to the shooting, a domestic terrorist followed them and rammed their vehicle in an attempt to run them off the road. This individual has also been arrested and is in HSI custody.

An ICE vehicle popped a tire and was subsequently mobbed by domestic terrorists, forcing law enforcement to abandon the vehicle for their own safety. The vehicle was significantly damaged.

Several CBP law enforcement officers were sent to the hospital with various injuries.

Did you notice how many times “domestic terrorists” or “domestic terrorist” was used in that press release?

I have highlighted each instance so that you will not miss them.

This is how the federal government now views these nuts.

Needless to say, our laws treat “terrorists” far differently than ordinary criminals.

Following the incident in which Marimar Martinez was shot, radical leftists were filmed hurling rocks and bottles at federal vehicles as they were traveling away from the scene.

I have a feeling that the Windy City is going to be one of the epicenters of political violence for quite some time to come.

Approximately 25 percent of the U.S. population lives within 500 miles of Chicago, and it has one of the largest populations of migrants in the entire nation.

In an attempt to restore order, President Trump is planning to send in National Guard troops…

President Trump pressed ahead Saturday with plans to mobilize federal troops in cities led by Democrats, this time in Illinois, even as a federal judge in Oregon issued a sharply worded order blocking the administration from sending National Guard members to Portland.

In addition, President Trump is deploying National Guard troops from California to the city of Portland…

President Donald Trump sent 300 California National Guard troops to Oregon on Sunday, defying a court order blocking him from deploying Oregon’s own National Guard to patrol Portland in an ongoing White House campaign targeting Democratic cities.

On Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut in Portland temporarily blocked the Pentagon from sending 200 Oregon National Guard members to protect an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland from protests.

She rejected the Pentagon’s claims that Portland faced a “danger of rebellion,” and said “the president’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” a week after Trump told military leaders that he planned to punish “dangerous” cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York by using them as military training grounds to combat “a war within.”

The ICE facility in Portland has been under siege for months, and there has been complete and utter chaos in the streets in that part of the city this weekend.

The leftists in Portland are a special kind of crazy.

It won’t be easy to get them to back down.

But this is just the beginning.  The Trump administration is making it clear that it is going to have zero tolerance for domestic terrorism.

The tragedy that is unfolding right in front of our eyes is not a surprise to anyone that has been following my work for an extended period of time.

The hatred that is now exploding in the streets has been percolating for many years.

Now a time of reckoning has arrived, and it is going to be completely insane.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

I hear from so many people that are deeply hurting right now. If you are one of those people, I want you to know that you aren’t alone. There really are millions of Americans that are completely stressed out over their finances. There really are millions of Americans that can’t seem to find work no matter how hard they try. And there really are millions of Americans that can’t believe how expensive things have become. Of course there is a small segment of our society that is doing perfectly fine. The wealth of the top 1 percent has reached $52 trillion, and CEO salaries have jumped 1,094 percent since 1978. Many of those that are sitting at the top of the economic pyramid wonder what all of the fuss is about. But for the rest of us, we know how badly economic conditions have deteriorated because we are living it every day. The following are 18 numbers which clearly show what direction things are going…

#1 According to ADP, the U.S. lost 32,000 jobs last month.  That was the largest drop in two and a half years…

Private payrolls saw their biggest decline in 2½ years during September, a further sign of labor market weakening that compounds the data blackout accompanying the U.S. government shutdown.

Companies shed a seasonally adjusted 32,000 jobs during the month, the biggest slide since March 2023, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 45,000.

In addition to the drop in September, the August payrolls number was revised to a loss of 3,000 from an initially reported increase of 54,000.

#2 The number of long-term unemployed workers in the United States has risen to the highest level since the pandemic…

As of August, the number of long-term unemployed people had risen to 1.9 million, according to government data — the highest level since 2021, when the nation was still reeling from the pandemic.

#3 Reuters is reporting that over 150,000 federal workers will permanently leave their jobs this week…

More than 150,000 federal employees will leave the U.S. government payroll this week after accepting buyouts – the largest single-year exodus of civil servants in nearly 80 years, triggering what unions and governance experts warn is a damaging loss of institutional expertise.

The official resignations begin on Tuesday for workers who opted into a deferred exit program that kept them on the payroll through September. The buyouts are a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s push to shrink the federal workforce, combining financial incentives with threats of dismissal for those who declined the offer.

#4 The number of movie jobs in Los Angeles County has fallen by 30 percent in just two years…

The far-left Wall Street Journal reports that at the end of 2024, there were only 100,000 motion picture jobs in Los Angeles County, compared to 142,000 two years earlier.

That’s a 30 percent collapse.

#5 Approximately 900 GM employees are facing indefinite layoffs…

General Motors is placing 900 workers on indefinite layoff at Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas, the company told the Detroit Free Press on Oct. 1, as it retools the plant for production of the gas-powered Equinox. Those employees were placed on temporary layoff as of Sept. 4.

#6 Exxon has confirmed that it plans to eliminate 2,000 high paying jobs…

A spokesperson for Exxon confirmed to Barron’s on Tuesday that the company plans to cut 2,000 jobs, representing 3% to 4% of the energy company’s global workforce.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg, which said Exxon sent a memo to employees noting the company is consolidating smaller offices into regional hubs as part of a long-term restructuring plan.

#7 The tech industry has laid off more than 166,000 workers so far in 2025.

#8 A 37-year-old tech worker that lost her job last November still hasn’t found work even though she has applied for hundreds of jobs…

When Anna Whitlock was let go from her job in the technology industry in November of 2024, she wasn’t worried about lining up a new position. The Washington state resident had 11 years of experience managing network infrastructure projects, a specialized role that involves equipping buildings with internet access, cameras and wifi security systems.

“The last time I had to job search, I found something pretty easily,” she said.

Almost a year later, the 37-year-old is still without a job. Whitlock said she has applied to hundreds of jobs — even for positions she’s overqualified for — to no avail.

#9 According to Mark Mitchell of Rasmussen Reports, only 48 percent of U.S. adults under the age of 30 currently have a full-time job.

#10 Our standard of living has been steadily declining for a very long time.  In 1950, more than 50 percent of 30-year-olds in the United States owned a home and were married.  Today, that figure has fallen to just 13 percent…

Since the postwar era, the share of 30-year-olds in America with both a family and a home has plummeted—from about 52% in 1950 to just 13% in 2025. That’s a staggering 75% decline over 75 years.

#11 44.4 percent of Americans struggle to make their housing payments each month…

More than two in five (44.4%) U.S. homeowners and renters struggle to afford their regular rent or mortgage payments, according to a recent Redfin survey. We consider survey respondents to struggle with housing payments if they selected “I struggle greatly to afford them,” “I regularly struggle, but sometimes okay,” or “I sometimes struggle, but generally okay.”

#12 46 percent of Americans worry about debt every single day.

#13 Prices were slashed on 19.9 percent of home listings last month as the U.S. housing bubble starts to burst…

Nearly one in five American homes listed for sale reportedly saw a price cut in September, as rising inventory shifted more power to buyers.

The number of listings with price cuts reached 19.9%, unchanged from August but up modestly from last year. Homes priced between $350,000 and $500,000 saw the steepest markdowns at 21.6%, while luxury properties over $1 million were less likely to see reductions, at just 13.3%, according to a Thursday report from Realtor.com.

#14 49 percent of Americans say that the cost of living is the biggest challenge that they are facing.

#15 67 percent of U.S. workers are now living paycheck to paycheck.

#16 The price of ground beef has risen more than 12 percent over the past year…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index report for August showed a surge in beef prices over the past year. Ground beef prices were up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis in August, while beef roasts were up 13.6%, and steak prices were 16.6% higher.

#17 The number of cows in the United States has fallen to the lowest level since 1951…

Cattle rancher Mike Martz of Larson Farms in Maple Park, Illinois, told FOX Business’ Kelly Saberi that cattle inventories have declined in recent years due to drought affecting important ranching areas.

“The real issue here is the drought that happened a number of years ago, and Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, the Southeast lost all their grass, all their forage. And when that happens, you’ve got to liquidate cows, and that’s what we’ve done,” Martz said. “We’ve got the lowest cow inventory since 1951, so that’s the cause of this.”

#18 The cost of living the American Dream for a lifetime has now reached 5 million dollars.

We haven’t seen anything like this since 2008 and 2009.

Of course I am entirely convinced that what we are facing will ultimately be far worse than 2008 and 2009.

If you are having a really tough time in 2025, it is so important to realize that you aren’t alone, and I also want you to understand that it isn’t your fault.

If you feel like you are drowning financially, or if you can’t find work no matter how much effort you put into your job search, it is not because you are a failure.

The truth is that the entire system has been failing for a long time, and now the consequences of decades of really bad decisions are overtaking us.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

I am so glad that I am not a young adult looking for a job in this very difficult economic environment.  Every month, federal bureaucrats tell us that the unemployment rate in this country is low, but at this point everyone knows that the numbers that they give us are fake.  The reality of the matter is that it is now “the toughest time in years” to find a good job in the United States, and that is particularly true for our young people.  According to Mark Mitchell, a Rasmussen Reports survey that will soon be released will show that only 48 percent of U.S. adults under the age of 30 currently have a full-time job…

As the results of the last presidential election demonstrated, Rasmussen is typically very accurate.

So this is an extremely alarming development.

Vast numbers of our young adults are working low-paying part-time jobs right now because that is all they can get.

But as the employment market gets even tighter, there will even be intense competition for those jobs.

Day after day, large companies are slashing more high-paying positions.  For example, Exxon Mobil just announced that it will be eliminating 2,000 jobs…

Oil giant Exxon Mobil is preparing to cut thousands of jobs worldwide in a corporate reshuffling.

A spokesperson for Exxon confirmed to Barron’s on Tuesday that the company plans to cut 2,000 jobs, representing 3% to 4% of the energy company’s global workforce.

But that is nothing compared to what has been going on in the tech industry.

Through September 15th, big tech companies had laid off 166,000 employees so far this year.

Sadly, I expect to see the pace of layoffs accelerate in the months ahead because so many industries are deeply troubled at this moment.

In recent days, we have been getting some extremely alarming warning signs from the auto industry…

The warning signs are stacking up. First Brands, a manufacturer of filters, brakes, wipers, and lighting systems, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday night.

Its collapse comes just two weeks after subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings went bankrupt and shut down, and follows June’s Chapter 11 filing by Marelli, a supplier for Nissan and Chrysler.

Experts told the Daily Mail that these bankruptcies are another part of an auto industry flashing danger signals that could spill into the broader economy.

I have said this before, but I will say it again.

If you have a job that you highly value, hold on to it as tightly as you can, because finding a new job would not be easy.

Concerns about our rapidly deteriorating employment market caused U.S. consumer confidence to fall “sharply” this month…

Consumer confidence fell sharply in September on growing worries about the labor market.

The consumer-confidence index dropped to 94.2 in September from a revised 97.8 in the prior month, the Conference Board said Tuesday. This is the lowest level since April.

Nobody can deny which way things are going.

And now on top of everything else we could have an extended government shutdown on our hands…

The federal government will likely shut down Oct. 1 after President Donald Trump and congressional leaders failed to reach a funding compromise on Sept. 30. The partial shutdown will likely start at midnight on Oct. 1.

The federal government will run out of money at the end of the fiscal year, unless members of Congress overcome partisan differences and agree to pass a funding bill, USA TODAY reported.

The federal government has closed down 21 times, with a total of 161 days since 1976. The pending shutdown primarily concerns health care spending.

This is not going to be good for the economy at all.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, it is being projected that approximately three-quarters of a million federal employees will temporarily be “furloughed” for the duration of the shutdown…

The Congressional Budget Office estimated on Tuesday that about 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed under a government shutdown, and the total daily cost of their compensation would be around $400 million. Furloughed employees receive back pay at the end of shutdowns.

The analysis came in a letter to Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican who requested the figures. CBO noted that the number of furloughed employees could “vary by the day” due to some agencies opting to furlough more employees if a shutdown drags on, while others could bring back employees who were initially furloughed.

Of course any federal employees that are furloughed will return to their jobs once the shutdown ends.

But the same thing will not be true for approximately 100,000 federal workers that will be quitting their jobs this week as part of the Trump administration’s “deferred resignation program”…

The Trump administration is set to oversee the largest mass resignation in US history on Tuesday, with more than 100,000 federal workers set to formally quit as part of the latest wave of its deferred resignation program.

With Congress facing a deadline of Tuesday to authorize more funding or spark a government shutdown, the White House has also ordered federal agencies to draw up plans for large-scale firings of workers if the partisan fight fails to yield a deal.

So now the millions of Americans that are already searching for work will have a lot more competition for a steadily dwindling number of high-paying job opportunities.

As I have discussed in previous articles, there are some people that have applied for hundreds of jobs in recent months without any success at all.

In fact, one 64-year-old man that has decades of experience in accounting has been getting up at 3 AM in the morning to work on his job search, but after many months he hasn’t had any luck.

If you visit YouTube or TikTok right now, you can find thousands of videos of people complaining about the economy.

As I have carefully documented, the U.S. economy has been moving in the wrong direction for many, many years, and now our economic slide threatens to become an economic avalanche.

Of course our economic problems are accelerating at a time when our world is facing one unprecedented crisis after another.

I am extremely concerned about the months directly ahead of us.

Yes, conditions are not good now, but the truth is that what we are currently experiencing is not even worth comparing to what is eventually coming.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The agriculture industry in the United States is deeply broken. Farmers are the foundation of it all, but they are being financially squeezed from every direction. They are being squeezed by the giant monopolies that control the seeds, fertilizer and machinery that they need. And they are also being squeezed by the giant monopolies that purchase most of what they produce. Meanwhile, demand from overseas has dried up thanks to the global trade war. U.S. farmers really are facing a “perfect storm”, and as a result most farms are losing money and bankruptcies are surging.

Most Americans have absolutely no idea how bad it has gotten.

According to the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, this is the worst economic downturn for farmers in at least 50 years…

“We’re in the middle of the worst economic downturn that I’ve seen in my 50 years,” John Hansen, the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said at a regional meeting in Beatrice, Nebraska, last week.

“Agriculture is our foundation here in Nebraska and many states in the Midwest,” Don Schuller, a corn and soybean farmer, told ABC News. “If agriculture is failing here everything is going to fail.”

I wish that I could tell you that he is exaggerating.

But I can’t.

A sobering article that was recently published by AGWEB that was just shared with me is warning that our farmers are facing a “generational collapse”…

Farmers are not crying wolf. The wolf is real and right outside the door in the form of generational collapse.

The inescapable crop math of sustained crippling commodity prices and high input costs has many growers screaming for immediate relief, potentially via aid payments in late 2025 or early 2026. However, bailouts are Band-Aids over bullet holes.

The giant monopolies that provide the things that our farmers need increase their profits by squeezing farmers, and the giant monopolies that purchase what our farmers produce increase their profits by squeezing farmers.

For a while, many farms could still at least break even, but now conditions have gotten so bad that many farmers are losing hundreds of dollars per acre…

Yes, says Bailey Buffalo, 40, owner of Buffalo Grain Systems in Jonesboro, and president of Farm Protection Alliance.

“Horror stories. The pain is unreal. Worst farming situation I’ve seen in my life,” Buffalo says. “Look at Extension [University of Arkansas] numbers — corn growers losing $240 per acre; soybeans losing $144 per acre; and rice losing $380 per acre. The cotton growers may be worst of all.”

This is what I mean when I say that the agriculture industry is broken.

So what is going to happen as vast numbers of our farmers simply go bankrupt?

According to the chairman of the Arkansas Rice Growers Association, banks are projecting “farm bankruptcies at 25% to 40%”…

Graves, chairman of the Arkansas Rice Growers Association, understands severe hardship. He farmed through the anemic ag crisis of the 1980s. However, the current unrest is a “coming disaster” unlike anything he’s witnessed across a 50-year career: “I’ve never seen this kinda look in farmers’ eyes. It’s fear. And it’s based in undeniable facts.”

In August 2025, Graves sent an open letter to media and politicians, pleading for attention to eye-popping numbers. “My letter told what things are like right now. In our geography, it looks like you need to yield 100-300-300 to stay ahead,” Graves describes. “That’s 100-bushel beans, 300-bushel rice and 300-bushel corn. Basic Arkansas averages are 56-bushel beans, 166-bushel rice and 175-bushel corn. In a nutshell, we are going over a cliff. Banks are forecasting farm bankruptcies at 25% to 40%, and the dirty secret is out. Everyone knows it; everyone feels it.”

A handful of companies control the seed market, a handful of companies control the fertilizer market, and a handful of companies control the farm machinery market.

Those giant monopolies are raking in huge amounts of cash while our small farmers are being ruthlessly crushed.

And when it comes time to sell what they produce, our farmers are at the mercy of the giant food monopolies.

On top of everything else, export demand has evaporated as a result of the global trade war.  Things are particularly bad for soybean farmers…

For American farmers who export their harvests directly to Asia, the evaporation of Chinese demand for soybeans — at a time when fertilizer and other inputs have become more expensive — could potentially be devastating, and lead to bankruptcies and foreclosures.

“It’s just a massive shock to our markets,” Cory Walters, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska, told ABC News.

We have seen agriculture shocks before, but never anything quite like this.

The White House is acknowledging that our farmers are facing a major crisis, and there are plans to introduce an aid package…

“Soybean, corn, wheat, sorghum, cotton farmers are facing very difficult times,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “We are currently in conversations here at the White House, across the government, on a farmer aid package.”

Will that fix anything?

Not really.

The structural issues will still exist, but perhaps if the aid checks are big enough they will help some farmers avoid bankruptcy for another year.

What we really need is to do something about the monopolies so that our farmers can have a chance to scrape out a living.

But that isn’t going to happen, because the monopolies have lots of lobbyists and they contribute vast amounts of money to political campaigns.

Of course it isn’t just the agriculture industry that is facing a crisis.

All over the country, we are witnessing signs of a major economic slowdown.  For example, this year Hollywood “has seen tourism numbers fall off a cliff”…

Los Angeles’s iconic Hollywood district has seen tourism numbers fall off a cliff, sparking fears for the future of the beleaguered City of Angels.

Visit California revealed tourist numbers slumped by 10 percent this summer, compared to the same period of 2024.

And businesses on Hollywood boulevard said customer numbers had plunged by up to 50 percent, raising the prospect of the neighborhood that is a byword for movies and showbusiness entering into a terminal decline.

A dramatic economic shift is taking place right now.

I expect this to be clearly reflected in the economic numbers in the coming months.

But this is just the beginning.  The pain that we are experiencing now will get a whole lot worse.

At the beginning of this article, I stated that the agriculture industry is deeply broken.

Nobody can deny that.

But the truth is that our entire society is deeply broken, and now a time of reckoning has arrived.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Political violence and mass shootings have become so common in the U.S. that a lot of us are numb to all of it by now. Day after day, there are more incidents in the news. In fact, the horrific acts of violence that I talked about a few days ago have already been drowned out by several new incidents that happened over the weekend. This is not normal. When I was a young boy, the churches that I attended did not have any security and I never dreamed that someone would come in and start shooting. But now that sort of thing happens all the time. On Sunday, a 40-year-old man rammed his truck into a Mormon church in Michigan and opened fire on the hundreds of people that were gathered inside…

Three people are dead, including the shooter, and nine others are hospitalized after a shooting Sunday morning at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, according to police.

Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said a 40-year-old Burton man rammed a vehicle into the church on McCandlish Road before opening fire on hundreds of people who were worshiping.

In addition to shooting a bunch of people, he also set the church on fire, and it is expected that more dead bodies will be discovered…

In addition to shooting victims, Renye said the suspect also set the church on fire. The police chief believes more victims may be found inside the church once the fire is extinguished, and it is safe to enter.

It is obvious that this was a targeted attack, and hopefully we will learn more about the shooter’s motive in the hours ahead.

When he learned about what had happened in Michigan, President Trump declared that America’s “epidemic of violence” must end…

I agree.

This epidemic of violence must end.

But we all know that is not going to happen.

The night before the mass shooting in Michigan, there was a mass shooting in North Carolina…

Three people were killed and eight were injured when a gunman fired numerous shots from a passing boat into a crowded dockside North Carolina restaurant on Saturday night.

Officials said the unidentified boater pulled up to the American Fish Company restaurant in Southport Yacht Basin, about 30 miles south of Wilmington, and opened fire into the crowd of unsuspecting diners at around 9:30 p.m.

The boater then took off up the Intracoastal Waterway before a person matching the shooter’s description was spotted loading the vessel at a marina on Oak Island, approximately 5 miles west of the scene, at around 10 p.m., according to Southport city officials.

In this case, we are being told that the shooter was a combat veteran.

But we don’t know why he picked that particular restaurant.

As I have stated previously, we live at a time when there is no place that is truly safe in this country.

There are literally millions of lunatics running around out there, and political violence just keeps erupting over and over again.

In an attempt to end the political violence in Portland, President Trump is sending in troops and is authorizing them to use “full force”…

What an ominous thing to say.

When Oregon Governor Tina Kotek heard about Trump’s decision, she went ballistic…

Oregon’s Democrat Governor Tina Kotek openly declared war on President Trump’s plan to restore order in Portland, telling the President of the United States to “stand down” and keep federal troops out of her state, even as Antifa terrorists and far-left agitators have spent years terrorizing the city.

At a press conference in downtown Portland, Kotek dismissed Trump’s announcement of a military deployment as an “abuse of power” and a “misuse of federal troops.”

Kotek insisted Oregon does not need national support, despite Portland’s well-documented history of firebombings, riots, and violent assaults carried out under the Antifa banner.

It is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out.

The governor of the state does not want troops there, and the mayor of the city does not want troops there either.

But Trump is sending them anyway.

The reason why Trump is sending them is because the ICE facility in Portland has been under siege for months…

Since June, protests have erupted near an ICE facility in Portland, where city officials cited land use violations, including improper detainee holding times and boarded-up windows.

The building has been vandalized with anti-ICE graffiti and clashes between protesters and federal agents have occasionally turned violent, leading to the use of rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bangs.

Video obtained by Fox News Digital confirmed another violent protest in August, with footage showing protesters rolling out a guillotine, lighting fires and fighting with authorities — forcing law enforcement to disperse the crowd with munitions.

Local law enforcement has not been able to get the situation under control.

One local resident says that far left rioters are causing chaos night after night even when nothing is going on at the facility…

“Every night, there’s tons of protesters basically being vagrants on the street,” David Schmidt, a Portland resident said. “The people that live in all these buildings right here have hell to go through. They are making noise constantly, even when nobody from ICE is outside. So for hours, they would be out here just disrupting the public here that lives here.”

So I can understand why Trump wants to do something.

But there is also a risk that sending in troops could actually spark an increase in violence.

In fact, there have already been violent clashes in Portland since Trump made his announcement…

Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump announced he was sending troops to Portland, protesters and ICE agents came face to face with minor clashes. KATU witnessed one get detained by officers.

Meanwhile, there have been a series of violent confrontations at an ICE facility in Chicago.

Last night, things got particularly bad…

Tear gas billowed through the air outside an ICE facility in suburban Chicago as protestors and federal agents continued to clash Saturday, hours after the Trump administration announced plans to send more federal agents to cities across the country.

Though these protests have taken place for weeks, including on Friday evening, the clashes are seemingly escalating amid a notable increase in the number of federal agents at the area.

There were clashes for hours, but it all finally ended once federal agents conducted a “shock-and-awe blitz”…

Officers began picking off and arresting dangerous suspects, prompting backlash from their comrades.

Chaos mounted after nightfall and more arrests were made.

Federal authorities eventually launched a shock-and-awe blitz, using armored BearCats, tear gas, pepper balls, and other non-lethal munitions to smash the riot and send most of the protesters fleeing.

Once federal authorities made their move, the streets in the local area looked like a war zone.

Many are calling this a “victory” over the protesters, but they will be back again tonight.

In fact, there will be protests at ICE facilities all over the nation.

A little tear gas is not going to dissuade these far left radicals.

It is imperative to understand that what we have witnessed so far is just the beginning.

It will get worse.

In addition to sending troops to Portland, the Trump administration will also be sending DOJ agents to ICE facilities throughout the country…

In addition Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she has begun deploying DOJ agents to ICE facilities.

She wrote, “At my direction, I am deploying DOJ agents to ICE facilities—and wherever ICE comes under siege—to safeguard federal agents, protect federal property, and immediately arrest all individuals engaged in any federal crime. Pursuant to President Trump’s recent executive action, I am also instructing the Joint Terrorism Task Forces across the country to disrupt and investigate all entities and individuals engaged in acts of domestic terrorism, including the repeated acts of violence and obstruction against federal agents.”

I would recommend avoiding the areas around ICE facilities for a while.

Far left radicals are going to do their best to cause chaos, and federal agents will do their best to restore order.

What people need to understand is that these protests are being organized and coordinated by well-funded networks that are highly sophisticated.  One of these networks is known as “50501”…

There’s a far-left “anti-fascist” movement calling itself 50501. if you look on the surface, it appears to be some democracy-focused progressive protest network. The name means this: Fifty protests, fifty states, one movement. That is the friendly pitch that shows up in press releases and polite interviews on propaganda media.

But the reality of what’s really going on is dark, demonic, and deadly.

In Reddit groups tied to 50501, members of the group are openly calling for armed retaliation, shootings, and even assassination. And these are not just isolated, fringe outbursts. The screenshots gathered for this report show a consistent pattern of violent talk and direct incitement.

I have never seen so much talk of political violence by the left in all my days.

For example, a website known as “AnarchistNews” just posted a call for all anarchists in the U.S. to engage in “a carnival of war against ICE and all authority”…

AnarchistNews, the long-running anarcho-communist propaganda site, popular among Antifa militants and radical leftists, issued a movement order this week instructing “all anarchists across the country” to disrupt operations at ICE facilities in every city and to “celebrate life with fire against the death march of american law and order.”

“We invite all anarchists across the country not only to occupy and disrupt operations at ICE facilities in every city, but to celebrate life with fire against the death march of american law and order. With tactical diversity, lets meet in the streets and wage a carnival of war against ICE and all authority!” read a post titled “A Call for Anarchist Action in America,” anonymously submitted on AnarchistNews.

Most conservatives have no idea what is being said on far left websites because they would never visit such websites.

But I’m telling you that these people are not joking around.

The era of violent civil unrest that I have been relentlessly warning about is here.

Once Charlie Kirk got assassinated, a lot more conservatives started to wake up to the reality of what we are facing.

The far left really does want a revolution, and they do not intend to give up until they get what they want.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Let us hope that global leaders will not choose a path that takes us to nuclear war, because the fate of billions of people is literally hanging in the balance. Unfortunately, our relations with Russia have deteriorated significantly in recent weeks. Very serious threats are being made, and it appears that both sides are preparing to greatly escalate matters. I think that western leaders are convinced that the Russians will eventually back down, and I think that Russian leaders are convinced that NATO will eventually back down. But what happens if neither side ever backs down?

If a full-blown nuclear war erupts, millions upon millions of people will be immediately killed.

But far more people will die during the nuclear winter that follows.

In fact, one study found that more than 5 billion people could die from starvation in such a scenario…

More than half of the world’s population will die from starvation in an event of a full-scale nuclear war, a new study showed.

A new Nature Food study published Monday indicated that 66% of the world’s population or more than 5 billion people would likely die from starvation within two years should Russia and the United States engage in a nuclear war.

The study, conducted by researchers from Rutgers University, suggested that nuclear weapon detonation could cause massive fires and inject soot from burning cities and forests into the atmosphere. The soot would then circulate to the skies above major global food exporters, such as the U.S., China, Germany and the United Kingdom, blocking out sunlight that is essential in growing crops to feed people.

You may think that you will just grow your own food if something like this happens.

But how are you going to grow your own food when it is freezing cold outside?

We are literally closer to nuclear war than we have ever been before, and we must turn back while there is still time.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration is seriously considering sending Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine…

Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Donald Trump to supply Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles in a ‘massively positive’ private meeting held on the sidelines of the United Nations.

The Ukrainian President told his American counterpart that the state-of-the-art weapons system could finally force Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table to discuss peace.

Several sources told The Telegraph that the appeal was made during what insiders described as a ‘massively positive’ encounter between the two world leaders.

This must not happen.

Moscow would be in easy range of Tomahawk missiles launched from Ukraine, and that is why Joe Biden was not willing to give them to the Ukrainians…

It remains unclear whether Zelensky will succeed in persuading Washington to provide Tomahawks – which have a range of up to 1,500miles and carry a 450kg warhead, making them vastly more effective than any similar long-range weapon previously donate to Kyiv.

Joe Biden, the former US President, rejected an identical request during his final months in office, when Zelensky presented his so-called 10-point ‘Victory Plan’.

At the time, officials feared the missiles could strike Moscow itself, slip past Russia’s air defences and dangerously escalate the conflict.

Yes, the Russians have the most advanced missile defense systems in the entire world.

But even if a few Tomahawk cruise missiles get through and start slamming into Moscow, the Russians would respond with overwhelming force.

And then there would be no turning back.

Earlier this week, Volodymyr Zelensky remarked that Russians will soon need to know where their bomb shelters are located.  In response, Dmitry Medvedev just warned that “Russia can use weapons a bomb shelter won’t protect against”…

“The Kiev drug addict said the Kremlin should know where a bomb shelter is so its occupants can hide when he uses long-range American weapons,” Medvedev, who is deputy chairman to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Kremlin’s Security Council, and is himself a former president and prime minister of Russia, in a post on X.

“What the freak needs to know is that Russia can use weapons a bomb shelter won’t protect against. Americans should also keep this in mind.”

Someone really needs to tell President Trump that he must not give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

Sadly, it appears that Trump has completely given up on peace with Russia.

So if there will be no peace, what will we get instead?

Ominously, the U.S. Navy just conducted a test launch of multiple intercontinental ballistic missiles off the coast of Florida…

The US Navy has launched multiple Trident II D5 ballistic missiles off the coast of Florida and into the Atlantic in the latest test of a system that can deliver thermonuclear warheads thousands of miles away.

An Ohio-class submarine launched the unarmed weapons from a submerged position during tests, marking the 197th consecutive successful test flight of the Trident II system.

Meanwhile, the Europeans are threatening to shoot down Russian aircraft…

European diplomats warned the Kremlin this week that NATO is ready to respond to further violations of its airspace with full force, including by shooting down Russian planes, according to officials familiar with the exchange.

At a tense meeting in Moscow, British, French and German envoys addressed their concerns about an incursion by three MiG-31 fighter jets over Estonia last week, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the talks took place behind closed doors. Following the conversation, they concluded that the violation had been a deliberate tactic ordered by Russian commanders.

The Russians have warned that if NATO shoots down Russian aircraft there will be war.

But European leaders don’t seem concerned about this threat at all.

In fact, some of them sound quite ready to get this show on the road…

On Wednesday the head of the EU Commission promoted the idea of attacking Russian planes.

“My opinion is we have to defend every square centimeter of the territory,” von der Leyen told CNN on Wednesday. “That means if there is an intrusion in the airspace, after warning, after being very clear, of course the option of shooting down a fighter jet that is intruding our airspace is on the table.”

She was not the only European with that idea, however.

“If another missile or aircraft enters our airspace without permission – either deliberately or by mistake – and gets shot down and the wreckage falls on NATO territory, please don’t come here to whine about it,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said at an emergency UN Security Council this week.

Something about all of this doesn’t smell right.

Could it be possible that the stage is being set for some sort of a false flag incident?

It is being reported that there were more than 500 drone sightings over Denmark within a 24 hour period…

Members of the public in Denmark have recorded over 500 possible drone sightings in the past 24 hours, after Scandinavia was targetted in a series of aerial attacks that some European officials have linked to Russia.

The population is full of fear following the drone incursions that shut down two of the country’s airports on Wednesday night in what has been described by officials as a ‘systematic operation’ and a ‘hybrid attack’.

It was the second incident in two days following Monday night’s drone disruption over Copenhagen airport that interfered with around 100 flights and left 20,000 passengers stranded.

The Europeans are claiming that these are “Russian drones”, but Russia insists that it doesn’t have anything to do with them.

To me, it sounds like someone is up to no good.

If you hear that a “Russian drone” has been downed in Denmark, that will be a major red flag.

I am also deeply troubled by reports of leaked Russian documents that appear to show that Russia is helping China prepare for an invasion of Taiwan…

Moscow is helping China to prepare for a potential invasion of Taiwan, according to an analysis of leaked Russian documents by a UK-based defense and security forum.

The Royal United Services Institute’s analysis is based on around 800 pages of documents, including contracts and lists of equipment to be supplied by Moscow to Beijing, from the Black Moon hacktivist group.

The mix of completed and apparent draft Russian documents reference meetings between Chinese and Russian delegations and payment and delivery timelines for high-altitude parachute systems and amphibious assault vehicles.

On top of all that, it is being reported that Russia is actually equipping and training Chinese paratroopers…

Russia has agreed to equip and train a Chinese airborne battalion and share its expertise in airdropping armored vehicles that analysts say could boost Beijing’s capacity to seize Taiwan, according to newly obtained documents that show the two nations’ deepening military cooperation.

The agreements allow Beijing to access training and technology in one of the few areas where Russian capabilities still surpass those of the Chinese military: Russia’s more experienced airborne troops, military analysts said.

Moscow has become increasingly dependent on China for dual use items to prop up its sanctions-hit military industry and sustain its war in Ukraine, but the deals show how Beijing is simultaneously tapping its partner’s battlefield expertise to further Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s drive to build a modern military with capabilities that match or surpass those of the United States.

The Chinese are far more serious about seizing Taiwan than most people realize.

But I had no idea that the Russians were so deeply involved in the preparations for such an operation.

I am so deeply frustrated with both sides.

For years, I have been writing about the wars that they are now dragging us into against our will.

The vast majority of the population does not want war.

But unless there is some sort of a miracle, that is exactly what we are going to get.

Time is running out my friends.

Earlier today, I was deeply alarmed to learn that Polish citizens are being instructed to leave Belarus immediately…

The Polish Embassy emphasised that due to rising tensions, ongoing military activity in the region and cases of arbitrary arrests of Polish citizens, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly advises against any travel to Belarus. “In the event of a sudden deterioration of the security situation, border closures or other unforeseen circumstances, evacuation may become significantly more difficult or even impossible. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urges Polish citizens currently on the territory of the Republic of Belarus to leave immediately using available commercial or private means of transport,” its statement read.

Why is such an urgent alert being issued now?

And why have hundreds of U.S. military officials been summoned for a secret meeting at a military base in Virginia next week?

I don’t like what I am seeing.

So much is starting to happen, and it appears that global events are about to go into overdrive.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

An “unprecedented” gathering of generals and admirals will be happening in Virginia next week, and the purpose of the meeting is a huge mystery.  This has sparked a frenzy of speculation on social media, but we still aren’t getting any answers.  Hopefully we will get an explanation soon, because things are starting to get really weird.  First the “Department of Defense” was renamed the “Department of War”, and then President Trump boldly declared that Ukraine can win the war against Russia and take back all of the territory that the Russians have conquered.  Of course that wouldn’t be possible unless NATO forces got directly involved.  So are we going to war soon?  There are some that believe that this is the real reason why this mysterious gathering of generals and admirals has been scheduled for next week…

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered hundreds of the nation’s top military officers to assemble at a Marine Corps base in northern Virginia next week for an unscheduled meeting, an unusual move that has raised questions inside the Pentagon.

The gathering, set for Tuesday at Quantico, will bring together generals and admirals of one-star rank or higher, along with senior advisers, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Associated Press.

The directive did not include a reason for the meeting. The people, who described the move as extraordinary, were not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Quantico is quite secure.

I have been there myself.

But I think that it is quite foolish to gather all of our military brass in a single location.

Our enemies know exactly where they are going to be, and they could all be taken out in a single strike.

According to CBS News, all we are being told is that Pete Hegseth will be “addressing his senior military leaders”…

“The Secretary of War will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week,” said chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.

The Pentagon has provided no other details about the meeting to either the military leaders or the press.

Isn’t this something that could be handled over a video call?

If I was a senior military official, that is what I would be thinking.

Either Pete Hegseth is wasting everyone’s time, or this is something really big.

A war with Russia would certainly qualify as something really big.  On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov publicly stated that he believes that NATO is already at war with Russia…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday, per a Public Telegram Board, that NATO and the European Union are waging war against Russia “using Ukraine as a proxy” and are “directly participating” in the conflict. Lavrov’s comments follow repeated Kremlin claims that Western military and financial support for Ukraine amounts to direct hostility toward Russia.

The announcement also comes amid repeated drone incursions into NATO allies’ air space. NATO warned Russia on Tuesday that it was prepared to defend “every inch of allied territory” after Estonia said that Russian fighter jets had violated its airspace last week. The incursion followed a similar incident in Poland earlier this month, where around 20 drones from Moscow entered Polish airspace. Just this week, Denmark reported multiple drone incidents at critical infrastructure points, as a Russian landing ship was discovered lurking off the Danish coast.

Unless the Russians actually want to start something, they need to keep their aircraft out of NATO airspace.

A single incident could potentially change everything.

But the Russians just won’t stop.  In fact, two Tu-95 long-range strategic bombers and two Su-35 fighter jets just flew through the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone…

U.S. fighter jets were scrambled Wednesday to identify and intercept four Russian warplanes flying near Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement.

NORAD said two Russian Tu-95 long-range strategic bombers and two Su-35 fighter jets were flying in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which is international airspace that abuts U.S. and Canadian sovereign airspace.

NORAD responded Wednesday by sending an E-3 early warning and control aircraft, along with four F-16s and four KC-135 tanker planes, “to positively identify and intercept” the Russian aircraft in the Alaskan ADIZ.

What in the world are the Russians thinking?

If they keep pulling such stunts, it is just a matter of time before one of their aircraft gets shot down.

In fact, Ursula Von der Leyen just warned that shooting down Russian aircraft is very much “on the table”…

Von der Leyen assured Amanpour that the option of shooting Russian aircraft out of the sky is “on the table” – following last week’s alleged drone and jet incursion incidents which took place in Poland, Romania, and Estonia. In each instance jets were scrambled from the NATO countries.

“My opinion is we have to defend every square centimeter of the territory,” von der Leyen told the CNN correspondent. “That means if there is an intrusion in the airspace, after warning, after being very clear, of course the option of shooting down a fighter jet that is intruding our airspace is on the table.”

That’s just great.

Does she not understand what would transpire if that actually happened?

According to Russia’s ambassador to France, if a Russian aircraft gets shot down there “would be war”…

NATO potentially shooting down a Russian plane in allied airspace “would be war,” Russian Ambassador to France, Alexey Meshkov, said in an interview with the RTL news channel published on Sept. 25.

The comments come amid surging tensions between Moscow and NATO as the allies accused Russia of multiple airspace violations in recent weeks.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft violating their airspace, a statement welcomed by many eastern members.

When asked what Russia’s reaction would be in such a case, Meshkov replied that downing a Russian plane would amount to war.

Both sides are being so irrational.

We are closer to war with Russia than we have ever been before, and the Ukrainians are absolutely thrilled about that because they have been trying to draw NATO directly into the conflict for a long time.

Earlier today, it was being reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has gleefully suggested that Russians will soon need “to know where their bomb shelters are”…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the Kremlin will become a target and Russian officials should check for bomb shelters if Moscow does not stop its invasion of his country, Axios reported Thursday.

“They have to know where their bomb shelters are,” Zelensky told Axios in an interview. “They need it. If they will not stop the war, they will need it in any case.”

Of course it is also possible that the mysterious gathering of U.S. military officials at Quantico next week could have to do with the situation in the Middle East.

Instead of backing down, Iran is rapidly rebuilding their nuclear facilities…

Speaking to Sky News in Vienna, the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, also said there will be no direct talks with the US.

He vowed the damaged facilities would be rebuilt despite the threat of further attacks by Israel.

“It is quite normal that during a military attack on facilities, they incur damage and the infrastructure is destroyed,” he said. “What is important is that science, know-how, technology, and industry are long-standing and deeply-rooted in the history of Iran.”

Personally, I will be watching the Middle East very, very closely during the next several weeks.

If something causes war with Iran to suddenly erupt again, that will tell us a lot.

Another theory that is being floated to explain why so many military officials are being summoned to Virginia next week is that the Trump administration is planning a nationwide crackdown on political violence.

As I detailed yesterday, we have entered a new era of violent domestic terrorism.  There have been so many examples of this in 2025, and President Trump is warning the left that “ultimately it’s going to go back on them”…

President Donald Trump warned that Americans on the political right eventually “won’t take it anymore” amid escalating political violence in the United States and suggested they might respond by targeting the left with violence.

“It’s going to get worse and ultimately it’s going to go back on them,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Sept. 25 in response to a question from a reporter. “Bad things happen when they play these games.”

Trump’s remarks came after a gunman opened fire on Sept. 24 at a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, killing one detainee and injuring two others. Trump quickly blamed rhetoric from “radical-left Democrats” for the shooting, which came two weeks after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking on a college campus in Utah.

Will we soon see troops on the streets of major cities all over the country?

If so, how will radical leftists respond?

Lastly, there are some on social media that are suggesting that the mysterious meeting that is being held next week has to do with one of the extremely large comets that are now traveling through our solar system.

3I/ATLAS is not supposed to come anywhere near us, and we are only supposed to go through the orbital debris trail of C/2025 R2 (SWAN).

So at this moment it does not appear that either of them is a significant threat to us.

But maybe we aren’t being told everything.

Only time will tell.

Whatever this secret meeting is about, I just wish that they would invite me.  I would love to talk to them about what is really coming.

We really are living in apocalyptic times, and I have a feeling that global events are going to become very “interesting” during the months ahead.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.